Seattle, Let's Get Kraken

Another sports topic that I didn't get a chance to blog about while I was mentally in Tokyo was the NHL Expansion Draft, which turned out to be an incredibly anticlimactic event after every one of the Kraken's picks was leaked online at some point during that day.  Every.  Single.  One.  And, I must say, while Seattle was still able to put together a decent roster, the rest of the league learned their lessons from four years ago.  Because they weren't gonna let the Kraken be anywhere near as good as the Knights were in their first season!

Where the Kraken have been really shrewd, though, is in free agency.  And they were smart to wait until after the Expansion Draft to begin signing free agents.  Otherwise, they would've counted as their selection from that player's former team.

Their biggest signing, of course, was goalie Philipp Grubauer, who was a Vezina finalist last season for Colorado.  When they signed Chris Driedger to an extension before the Expansion Draft, it was widely assumed that he'd be Seattle's starter.  It turns out that wasn't the case at all, as the Kraken got the one thing they knew they would need to be successful right out of the gate--a franchise goalie.

Vegas definitely found some diamonds in the rough like Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson in their expansion draft, but it was Marc-Andre Fleury who gave them instant credibility.  They knew the importance of having a franchise goalie, which is why they took Fleury first in the expansion draft and made him the face of the franchise for their first four years of existence.

It was the same thing in Florida when they first started.  The Panthers took John Vanbiesbrouck No. 1 in the expansion draft, built around their franchise goalie, and ended up in the Stanley Cup Final by year three.  (The top six picks in the 1993 Expansion Draft were all goalies, which leads me to believe they did it by position, but Vanbiesbrouck likely would've been the No. 1 pick in any case.)

Anyway, my point is the Kraken understood the value of the franchise goalie.  Frankly, it was the most important thing they needed to get if they wanted to have any shot of even being competitive in year one.  And the guy who led the league in wins and had a sub-2.00 GAA last season certainly qualifies!

There were two really interesting picks that they made in the Expansion Draft who I think could pay big dividends for them.  The first is former Flames captain Mark Giordano, who had spent his entire 15-year career in Calgary.  Not only do I think he'll be the Kraken's first captain (unless they decide to go the Vegas route and not have a captain until their fourth season), he can still play.  I think he'll be on their top defensive pair.  But beyond that, they knew they were gonna have an incredibly young roster, so they needed a veteran leader like the Knights had in Derrek Engelland.  Giordano is a much better player than Engelland, however.  

Giordano anchors a very strong defensive unit for the Kraken.  They could easily pair him with former Star Jamie Oleksiak, giving them a pair of veteran top-line defensemen or split them and pair them with the Fleury brothers (assuming Cale is ready for the NHL).  They also took Adam Larsson and Jeremy Lauzon in the Expansion Draft, and I'd expect those six to be their Opening Night defensemen.

The other Expansion Draft selection that intrigued me was Yanni Gourde.  You knew they were gonna get someone good from Tampa, who obviously couldn't protect everybody.  Gourde's production for the Lightning as a third-line center was ridiculous.  But he was also only on the third line because Tampa was so stacked at forward.  While he's clearly better than a third-line center, can he be the anchor of a top line?

As for who'll join him on the top line, there's another Stanley Cup-winning stud who they signed as a free agent--Jaden Schwartz.  Frankly, I didn't think Schwartz would ever leave St. Louis, but he committed to five years in Seattle and will immediately be the Kraken's No. 1 offensive option.  Which is vastly different than Vegas, where the Knights weren't sure who their top offensive guys would be until Marchessault and Karlsson emerged as the major scoring threats they quickly became.

They actually have a choice as to who'll join Schwartz and Gourde on the top line--Jordan Eberle or Joonas Donskoi.  Eberle has had 16 goals for the Islanders in each of the last two years, while Donskoi had 17 last season for the Avalanche.  Frankly, they can go either way.  And the other will form a pretty solid second line along with Brandon Tanev and Calle Jarnkrok.

For their third- and fourth-line centers, the Kraken have Mason Appleton and Colin Blackwell.  Jared McCann and Nathan Bastian should be the wingers on their third line, but I have no idea who the other two forwards on Opening Night will be.  Do they play one of the centers at wing?  Do they carry seven defensemen?  Regardless, Marcus Johansson is probably on the roster.  The 11-year vet signed a one-year deal with Seattle as a free agent.

I also completely forgot about Carson Soucy, who was +22 for Minnesota last season and has a chance to be the Kraken's breakout star.  So, he should be able to crack the top three defensive pairings, which knocks Cale Fleury either out of the lineup or into the seventh defenseman role, whichever Dave Hackstol decides to do.  Either way, injuries are gonna come into play, so they'll all get playing time.

So, looking at this roster, it's not bad.  The Kraken definitely have a chance to be competitive.  And, seeing as the Pacific is the weakest of the four divisions, I can definitely see them contending for the playoffs.  Will they have a magical Vegas-like run to the Stanley Cup Final?  Probably not.  But they won't be the 1974-75 Capitals, either.  I think they can easily be like the Florida Panthers, who turned two competitive expansion seasons into a Stanley Cup Final berth in their third.